Near-Field Coupling with a Nanoimprinted Probe for Dark Exciton Nanoimaging in Monolayer WSe2.

Abstract

Tip-enhanced photoluminescence (TRPL) is a powerful technique for spatially and spectrally probing local optical properties of 2-dimensional (2D) materials that are modulated by the local heterogeneities, revealing inaccessible dark states due to bright state overlap in conventional far-field microscopy at room temperature. While scattering-type near-field probes have shown the potential to selectively enhance and reveal dark exciton emission, their technical complexity and sensitivity can pose challenges under certain experimental conditions. Here, we present a highly reproducible and easy-to-fabricate near-field probe based on nanoimprint lithography and fiber-optic excitation and collection. The novel near-field measurement configuration provides an ∼3 orders of magnitude out-of-plane Purcell enhancement, diffraction-limited excitation spot, and subdiffraction hyperspectral imaging resolution (below 50 nm) of dark exciton emission. The effectiveness of this high spatial XD mapping technique was then demonstrated through reproducible hyperspectral mapping of oxidized sites and bubble areas.